Hopson Gets A Fresh Start

The streets outside the Stadium show the pockmarks of urban decay, empty lots where houses once stood, broken glass littering the streets and broken lives preying on the city`s conscience.

Inside the aging Stadium, the sense of decay permeates the air, drifting into cramped locker rooms. But to one of the newest Bulls, Dennis Hopson, it`s a paradise, for it`s not New Jersey.

``It`s a chance for me to start over,`` said Hopson, the 6-foot 5-inch guard who was acquired from the Nets last June and made his Bulls debut Saturday night in a Stadium exhibition against Utah. ``And coming into Chicago and playing before those 18,000 people is beautiful, something you look forward to and get pumped up about.``

And Hopson helped the Bulls take the air out of the Utah Jazz 109-94 Saturday night at the Stadium in the Bulls` first exhibition game. He had five steals and eight points as part of an aggressive second unit. Scottie Pippen led the Bulls with 17 and Stacey King scored 14. Michael Jordan scored nine points and sat out the second half with a twisted ankle suffered on a drive late in the first half. But Jordan said he would play Sunday in the rematch between the teams in Nashville.

But playing at home was something Hopson dreaded before.

``There`d be about 4,000 people in the stands,`` he said, ``and they`d be cheering for the other team and shouting out things. It just was more fun playing on the road.

``And it seemed like every two or three days, different guys were coming and others were going. Then we`d change coaches every year. I don`t know how Buck (Williams) put up with it for eight years. Three was enough for me.``

Yet Hopson still believed he was returning to the Nets for another season before that June trade to the Bulls for a No. 1 draft choice. And he was prepared. ``It was my job,`` he said.

But basketball always was more than that. ``It`s supposed to be fun,`` he said. It too often wasn`t for Hopson in New Jersey, where there`s on old joke about the local aroma. ``What died?`` someone is likely to say when walking outside.

The answer could have been: Dennis Hopson`s career.

Actually, it was on life-support of sorts. Although he was the team`s leading scorer at 15.8 points per game, Hopson feuded with coach Bill Fitch toward the end of the season and eventually was benched.

``I was frustrated,`` he said.

The team was losing, and Hopson, the No. 3 selection in the 1987 draft, often was being blamed. Why didn`t he shoot better (42 percent in three seasons)? Why couldn`t the team win more with such high draft selections?

``The draft puts tremendous pressure on kids, especially on the high choices,`` said Bulls General Manager Jerry Krause. ``They get paid all this money and people expect them to be super right away.``

But there aren`t many Jordans. Hopson was just a good player who prospered in a running system at Ohio State and became Big 10 player of the year. He wasn`t ready to turn around a moribund franchise. Even Jordan`s rookie year, the Bulls won just 38 games.

``I did put too much pressure on myself,`` said Hopson. ``I went in listening to all those people saying how great I would be, and I listened instead of just relaxing and playing.``

So Hopson shot just 40 percent and averaged 9.6 points his first season, advice visiting him like poor relations.

``Everyone was telling me to change my shot, that I had to shoot right off screens, and I was hurrying everything,`` said Hopson. ``If you`re a great shooter like Dale Ellis, that`s fine. But I like to put the ball on the floor. I was taking a lot of bad shots.``

He averaged 12.7 points and shot 42 percent in 1988-89 and was 15.8 and 43.4 percent last year, showing signs of improvement, but not enough for the Nets, who traded for Reggie Theus and gave up on the 25-year-old Hopson.

Now Hopson has gone from starting to backing up Jordan, which suits him just fine, he said.

``I`m playing for a great team that plays my style of ball. I just want to be a part of a good second team that goes out and keeps a lead for the starters, play defense and score, which I can do for this team. I`m satisfied and looking to have fun again.``